Life Cycle Assessment of Organic Cotton

The study is based on data from producer groups located in the top five countries of organic cotton cultivation; India, China, Turkey, Tanzania and the United States. These countries account for 97% of global organic cotton production.

The LCA investigated the impact of organic cotton cultivation in the categories of climate change/global warming potential, soil erosion and soil acidification, water use and consumption and energy demand.

The LCA study is in conformance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.The critical review panel included three of the leading figures in the field. The panel was chaired by Ing. Paolo Masoni, Research Director at ENEA in Italy. He was joined by Dr. Niels Jungbluth, CEO of ESU-service, Switzerland. and Dr. Christian Schader from the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland (FiBL).